The Real Deal New York

LES co-op board members investigated over missing funds

The city is investigating two board members at a 28-unit Lower East Side co-op building who allegedly stole $120,000 from the property’s bank account over the course of a year.

Complaints from other shareholders at the six-story building at 157 Broome Street led the Department of Housing Preservation and Development to review tax data. Two boards members, Maggy Almonte and Martha Pichardo (also the board president), allegedly failed to file required financial documents with the city. Pichardo and Almonte both received $29,881 in salary, or “management fees” in 2010. They wrote checks to themselves for more than $38,400 over a span of eight weeks, tax records show.

The building is income restricted under an HPD program, according to the report from the New York Post.

“The board has not been compliant with their regulatory agreement and requirements to provide the agency with current documentation,” a city official told the Post.

Pichardo denied that she was a member of the board and that she made payments to herself or Almonte with building funds. [NYP] — Mark Maurer